eCommerce firm; Jumia Uganda has on Thursday unveiled its 2nd annual jumia mobile report, as well as highlighting some of the major trends from last year’s. This was done a head of its upcoming mobile week, where phones have been discounted up to 40%.
Mobile vs desktops
The report indicated that 77% of Ugandan shopped online opted to do so using their mobile phones. On the other hand, 23% shopped on desktop computer as well as laptops. The report showed that Uganda has approximately 30.56 million mobile subscribes with a growing population of 43.57 million people.
Sefik Bagdadioglu; Jumia Regional Manager, at the unveiling said, smartphones are the primary gateway to internet for millions of Africans.
“The positive growth figures demonstrate the increasing capacity and flexibility of the online retail space in Uganda,” he said.
In the report, it stated that internet connectivity is enabling more social media users. With 19 million internet users in Uganda, the country has 44% internet penetration rate. Ranking Uganda 15th in internet usage in Africa followed by Rwanda with a penetration rate of 30.6%.
Peter Kahiigi; Director eGovernment services at NITA-Uganda stated that, the firm (NITA-Uganda) remains committed to digitizing Uganda by reducing the cost of internet.
“This effort has been deliberate and we’re happy to have led the industry in reducing the cost of connectivity to government offices by over 84% since 2010,” he said.
“By easing the onboarding of government institutions on to the internet, the number of online government service will increase, this will spur usage of the internet,” he concludes.
Mobile Brands
In the report, Tecno led in Uganda, while Infinix, Samsung, Fero, and Nokia came in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places respectively. On the other hand, Infinix took the lead Africa-wide.
Jumia as well as noted on the price of the smartphones. And according to the report, in 2015, a smartphone was sold at an average price of USD$167 (roughly 610,900 UGX). In 2016, the average price dropped down by USD$32 to USD$135 (roughly 494,000 UGX). In 2017, it went as low as USD$83 (roughly 300,000 UGX). The penetration of largely low cost internet has contributed to this shift.
Notably, Jumia saw a smartphone increase by +70% between 2016 and 2017.
Preferred method of payment
It also further stated that in 2017, 83% of Ugandans preferred to pay for their delivery by cash. 16% opted to use mobile money, while the 1% went to others. Cash on delivery was so because it enables customers to examine their products before paying for them.
In the report, males are shopping more than the females at 68%, and 32% respectively. Further stated that the females are shopping more in the fashion category than any other category.
Meanwhile, on shopping for mobile phones, the central region took the lead with 49%. Northern followed with 20%, Western at 18%, and Eastern at 13%.
Browser used to access the Jumia website
Google chrome took the lead with 35%, followed by ‘other’ at 26%. Android webview at 25% in the 3rd place, and finally 14% went to opera mini.
Notably, the timely release of the report comes less than a week to its upcoming campaign dubbed; Jumia mobile week. The campaign is to prove Jumia’s findings regarding improved mobile device specification and more attainable prices.
The campaign will run from 19th t0 25th of March, 2018. Mobile phones have been discounted up to 40%.
When Ray was asked the question of product running out of stock, relating to what happened last year. He said, the have secured products in stock.
“If all stock runs out, we shall have the product taken off the website,” he said.
